Postal services exemption

The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) has issued a decision (binding in the UK) relating to Zipvit (C-156/20) which deals with any right of a purchaser of contract postal services to reclaim VAT on such services. 

The specific (and now historic) aspect of this is that Royal Mail failed to charge VAT as it ought to have done, at a time when it was thought that a contract postal service was exempt. 

Zipvit argued that the charge must therefore include an element of VAT which it could claim as input tax. HMRC did not collect VAT from Royal Mail.